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With a feet-on-the-ground presence, PeopleStories has been working closely with various schools in rural Cambodia since 2017 and this year we have our first group of scholarship students progressing from secondary school to high school. Such a fantastic milestone to be celebrated! With this incredible milestone, we took an opportunity to catch up with two of our PeopleStories Scholars who have just graduated from Grade 9 from Chea Smonn Secondary school. They are now getting ready to progress to Grade 10 at a new school, Bakong High School, in November 2019. First, we spoke with BunSao who is a 16 year old young man. Both of BunSao’s parents are farmers. He also has 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Having 8 children in the family, life hasn’t been as easy for him nor his siblings. In fact, some of his siblings had to quit school and start working at a very young age in order to bring home some extra income.
So you want to be an engineer? Why? I just think Cambodia needs a lot of engineers. We need many new buildings and construction works to improve our country. If I’m an engineer, I can help my family a lot. Plus, I will be very strong! [laughs]
How has the PeopleStories Scholarship impacted your life? I have two other sisters in my family and my father is a fisherman. My family is very poor and that’s why my older sister had to quit school to find a job at a very young age. She works as a cashier at a guest house. If I didn’t get the scholarship from PeopleStories, I’d most probably have to find a job to support myself going to school. That would have been very hard, but I have no choice. I’d still do it because I love school so much. [pauses] But I’m thinking, maybe if I had to work and go to school at the same time, I probably wouldn’t have won the Highest Performing Student Award. Interviewed by: Teacher Song at Chea Smonn Secondary School Translated by: PeopleStories Team
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Family support is the number one factor that determines if a child in Siem Reap stays in school or drops out. This is why here at PeopleStories Foundation, we constantly strive to instill the value of lifelong learning in not only the children, but their parents. Most of the mothers of these children are homemakers. A majority of these parents had also been brought up by their own homemaker mothers, who instilled in them a strong work ethic. The need for education is not and has never been a priority. Though this mentality is hard to break, we truly believe that we are changing this slowly but surely.  Our Chief Change Maker, Victoria Keeys, had conducted a couple of Parent-Teacher workshops in Siem Reap recently. She gave a speech about the importance of education in helping the children attain a brighter future. She shared with the parents her own story, PeopleStories’ vision for the education system in Siem Reap, as well as the various scholarships available for their children. Most importantly, Victoria shared the progress of PeopleStories’ Foundation latest initiative, Khmer4Success, which aims to help the children of Siem Reap improve their reading and writing skills in Khmer. The high illiteracy rate was a high contributor to the high school drop out rates as students often felt unworthy of an education. This hands-on learning programme currently has 123 students enrolled and we could already see within the first two weeks the increase in motivation these children had to improve their Khmer literacy skills.  At the end of Victoria’s Parent-Teacher workshops, we managed to get more than a hundred parent signatures as a form of commitment that they will support their children to complete school, instead of getting them to drop out and find work. It was truly an emotional moment. As the parents left their thumbprints on the contract, they realized how it was more than just a piece of paper. It was the start of a different journey for their families. A brighter one.  There are four major elements of School for Life and we at PeopleStories Foundation believe they are crucial in building a culture of lifelong learning for the children of Siem Reap. The first is the enablement to attend school including a bike for mobility as well as having sufficient school supplies. Then, we focus on better learning environment both physically and in mind through more effective teaching. And lastly, the families support for these children. In our last volunteer trip to Siem Reap, our team of volunteers ensured to further develop these four important elements to help students complete school.  We engaged in a School Refresh project. Our volunteers and team members worked hard to clean and beautify the classrooms and libraries of Chea Smonn Primary and Secondary schools. They bonded with some of the students by putting together a few classroom furniture like tables and bookshelves.  Next, we worked directly with the teachers to enrich the curriculum of these schools by introducing new lessons. A successful example would be how our team conducted engaging music sessions that ended with children and teachers snapping their fingers to the beat of the melody. We also bonded with the teachers outside of school hours by doing house visits and touring around the village leisurely on bicycles.  Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we made a conscientious effort to get to know the direct families of these children. We organised house visits to have face-to-face conversations with mothers to better understand the home dynamics that might affect the children’s willingness to learn.  At the end of the volunteer trip, we left with our hands full of chalk and dust, our backs weighed by the many hours under the sun, but our hearts full of hope and pride for these children.
If you would like to join our cause and help these children lead a life fueled by education, contact us at contact@peoplestories.net.  School for Life is to break the cycle of poverty by advancing education for underprivileged students, families and communities in need.
One of the most critical aspects of any educational experience is the quality of teaching and the learning culture promoted. Today, PeopleStories is proud to share the final key element f School for Life... “Quality of Learning” The Cambodian government has brought significant progress in education with great results particularly in primary schools, where enrollments have increased from 83.8% (1992) to 96.4% (2012). However, the need to improve student learning further is evident! Worldbank’s research in 2010 indicated that 33% of primary school students could not read and 47% of literate students could not comprehend what they read. School for Life will be enhancing the quality of learning at Chear Smonn School as follows: -Regular coaching groups to improve academic learning as well as life skills -Further development of teachers’ skills to strengthen quality of teaching -Upgrade school facilities to accelerate learning -Initiate events and activities to build a learning culture Do you want to help these underprivileged students to gain better learning opportunities? Email us at contact@PeopleStories.net to lead the change. Source: http://bit.ly/2tIZnmF  School for Life – Better in school, better in life!
Many families that live close to Chear Smonn School in Cambodia are poor and struggle to put food on the table let alone buy school supplies for their children. PeopleStories is committed to make School for Life a success. Today, our focus is on the 3rd key element of School for Life, “School Supplies” We recognise the need and importance of students having sufficient school supplies to complete their education including stationary, uniforms, bags and books. The aim of “School Supplies” is to provide students with the essential school supplies to succeed at school. Do you want to help these underprivileged students to acquire the much needed school supplies? Email us at contact@PeopleStories.net to lead the change.  School for Life aims to inspire, engage, educate and motivate families and communities to advance education.
We believe education starts at home! Family and community play a key role in the upbringing of children. Their support and guidance is particularly imperative in helping and encouraging children to complete school. PeopleStories is proud to introduce the 2nd key element of School for Life, “Family and Community Support”. Strong support from home will not only help underprivileged students to become educated, but will change their lives as they gain greater employability and create a brighter future for themselves. PeopleStories is excited to partner with Chear Smonn Junior Secondary School in the rural area of Cambodia. School for Life – Better in school, better in life! Stay connected for how you can get involved! Email us at contact@PeopleStories.net to lead the change!  School for Life – Better in school, better in life!
If our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by advancing education for underprivileged students, families and communities in need, what do we need to do and how do we do it? PeopleStories is proud to introduce the 4 key elements of School for Life this week. Here is the 1st key element… “Bike for Life” School for Life is to break the cycle of poverty by advancing education for underprivileged students, families and communities in need.
In the rural area of Siem Reap, students tend to live a very basic and simple life (some may describe it as a hard life). Nevertheless, their amazing dreams give them countless strength to strive for a better future. We at PeopleStories have the opportunity to get to know many of these fantastic students. To have a glimpse into student daily life, here is “A Day with Kongnov”. School for Life – Better in school, better in life! Email us at contact@PeopleStories.net to lead the change! School for Life - Better in school, better in life!
Our goal is to break the cycle of poverty by advancing education for underprivileged students, families and communities in need. PeopleStories is proud to form a partnership with Chear Smonn Secondary School in Cambodia. Let’s hear more about the school. *A government run school located in the rural area of Siem Reap (30km away from urban life) *Co-shares the school grounds with a primary school *4 classes from grade 7 to 9 *173 students, aged between 11 and 18 attend from the 5 nearby villages *93 female and 80 male students *Students mainly use bikes to commute or simply walk *6 teaching staff and principal Nika *Has a library and computer learning room that are not well equipped *1 of the 4 classrooms has walls made from dried leaves leafs as walls *25 students dropped out of school in 2017 Join us to support students from Chear Smonn Secondary School... stay connected for how to get involved! Email us at contact@peoplestories.net to lead the change.  School for Life - Better in school, better in life!
Education empowers people, families and communities to make a better future. So why does PeopleStories focus on education? Here’s why! -264 million out-of-school children and youth in the world (2015) In Cambodia alone (2015/16) ... -25% students dropped out of school when transitioning from junior secondary to high education -39.2% of students dropped out during grade12 -24.8% of junior secondary school students were over-age -School principals were 40.5 years old and had 21.9 years of service in average -32.5% of school had no toilets Join us to advance education with communities in need. Stay connected for how you can get involved. Email us at contact@peoplestories.net to lead the change. Reference: http://bit.ly/2DkqVy8 http://bit.ly/2FJLXLZ |
mission
To break the cycle of poverty by advancing education for underprivileged students, families and communities in need. |
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